Blinkx Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Blinkx full-time for more than a year

Pros – 1. San Francisco Office next to Ferry Building
2. Catered lunch (but only once a week)
3. Some people who work there are very cool
4. Total pay package is OK (but salary lacking)

Cons – 1. They don't know who to hire for what positions. A couple of recent hires have just disappeared and I'm scared to ask why.
2. Long term growth doesn't seem to be there with a lack of mobile advertising direction.
3. YouTube is just superior in every way
4. Load pay package with bonuses (which are attainable) but that means you are taxed at a much higher rate and you make less than if you would if they just paid higher base salaries.
5. Stock options are worthless
6. The smartest person at the company (C.O.O) is leaving the company, now there is no one smart enough to run it.

Advice to Senior Management – There is no communication to employees except for really big announcements (like the C.O.O leaving). No one knows what direction the company is heading in... new flash, it's down. 300+ employees and 10+ offices, that doesn't seem to be very smart.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Blinkx

Pros – Faced paced, high reward work environment. Co-workers are no nonsense, smart and hard working. Company is growing fast, creating lots of opportunity for advancement.

Cons – blinkx is growing so fast that the support infrastructure is having trouble keeping pace. The company needs to focus on how to make the transition from a small organization to a mid-size company.

Advice to Senior Management – Improve companywide communication channels. With the hyper growth that's taken place over the last year management needs to do a better job of communicating to the various business units. Improved communication will help the various business units understand what each other are doing and provide more opportunity for collaboration.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Blinkx

Pros – Free lunches
Coworkers are generally cool unless they're at mid-management or higher
A fully stocked fridge and kitchen
Pay is decent

Cons – Everything else. If you like working in a boring, stuffy work environment with management breathing down your neck at every step, this might be the place for you.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to your employees. Realize that you don't actually know everything. Show your employees some respect and reward ingenuity and hard work instead of trying to bend them to your will.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Blinkx

Pros – There is a fair amount of flexibility with working hours and I've had a good balance with my work/personal life. I've received promotions and have learned a lot.

Cons – Information is not provided very openly. Senior management is not supportive of employees sharing ideas or making suggestions about the progress of the company.

Advice to Senior Management – Fear based management doesn't produce results and it doesn't make your employees respect you. Don't expect people to have trust in you when you make decisions that don't seem to be well thought out.

Current Employee – been working at Blinkx

Pros – My peers were top quality. Everyone was competent and good at their jobs. They all left and got better jobs elsewhere.

Cons – Terrible management. They yell and cuss at others in the office. They have no direction other than to do what they can to make good press releases.

Advice to Senior Management – Management needs to relax and let people do their jobs properly. Try to actually develop a real product rather than "do deals" that sound good in press releases.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Blinkx

Pros – The senior managers have really cool accents. It’s like working for a mean little Hugh Grant. If you like senior managers who are bad at managing but have really cool accents, then you’ll love it here.

Most middle managers and peers are good people. Their morale is low, but they’re good people.

Cons – The work environment is the worst. Senior management sees themselves as brilliant wiz-kids and all employees as vermin. Employees are disrespected and constantly reminded of their expendability. Folks are scared of the penalties of a bad decision so they don’t make decisions on their own. Their fear keeps them from investing any time in helping out fellow peers, it’s all about protecting yourself.

It’s just no fun to be treated so poorly and seeing people you respect being treated even worse. There’s an uncomfortable, depressing feeling everywhere, in meetings, in conversations, in work habits that all stem from the awful senior management.

Advice to Senior Management – It’s probably too late. No one from senior management understands good leadership. B-slap the top five and replace with smart, respectful, experienced leaders and maybe there’s hope.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Blinkx

Pros – Conceptually a great service, unfortunately not so great in reality.
Some (but not all) wonderful co-workers, who give, and give, and give.
Generally fair pay.

Cons – Paranoid, egotistical management, with poor people skills.
Disorganized, lots of balls being dropped, in generally all departments.
Low morale, many employees who would normally leave this company feel stuck because of the poor economy.

Advice to Senior Management – Needs an overhaul top down, especially at the top, but may be too late for that - doubtful if Blinkx could attract the right kind of management talent now.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Blinkx

Pros – cool idea, online video search

Cons – No regard for employees as human beings. No communication from senior management of corporate strategies - even though there weren't any real missions or strategies or goals they didn't even convey whatever foolish plans they were conceiving. Didn't trust employees, listen to them, or properly utilize their skills. Just head down into their own ultimate destruction. Very odd work environment, no one really seemed to like each other. The MO seemed to be share nothing and if you're forced to, share less than will help your colleague. The attitude trickles down from senior management. Whatever was happening in reality didn't seem to ever line up with whatever they're reporting to the world. Nothing worked as it was supposed to and results appear to be very inflated.

Advice to Senior Management – Can't really help. You don't know what you don't know. I just don't understand how people like that get to those positions. It's one of those situations where failure is the norm and no one keeps track of anyone else.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Blinkx

Pros – an interesting techonology that has a lot of promise
opportunity to get in early in the online video search space

Cons – paranoid executives micromanage ineffectively
no recognition of talent
childish vindictive and manipulative actions
lacking self-confidence, management projects their own shortcomings onto their employees

Advice to Senior Management – respect and reward your talent or they will walk away
have a business strategy and plan accordingly
establish core values and communicate them
communicate with your employees
don't think that you are above QA, documentation, and thoughtful planning
treat employees fairly
instead of blaming your employees, take a self-inventory

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Blinkx

Pros – I found the company a challenging and fast paced environment to work in. With new projects constantly coming up and very much at the leading edge of what technology can offer in this space.

Cons – Being a fast paced industry means that on the down side the place can be a little caotic or manic, some days crazy. You also have to scream to be heard and sometimes your voice drowns.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to the troops and be less quick in dismissing their thoughts. some great material comes from us and can make the company more successful. Also communicate more.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend